Thinking strategically is very very hard. The normal activist mode is to move (or, uncharitably, lurch) from one ‘crucial’/urgent; upcoming event to the next. It might be a camp, or a march, or a submission to some government ‘consultation’. It might be a public meeting, the launch of a document, whatevs. You can spend literally... Continue Reading →
In 1759 the English essayist Samuel Johnson had some wise words about techno-hype. He said… “When the philosophers of the last age were first congregated into the Royal Society, great expectations were raised of the sudden progress of useful arts; the time was supposed to be near, when engines should turn by a perpetual motion, and... Continue Reading →
So, the (Adelaide) Advertiser published my letter! John Patterson of the Australian Nuclear Association (SA Branch) writes that he believes that nuclear is "the one big hope for combatting climate change" ((The Advertiser, 23/7/18). This purported climate 'solution' has been a continuing argument by the nuclear industry since the 1970s. Numerous reports have shown that the costs in building and decommissioning plants,... Continue Reading →
I didn't go to the secondhand book fair on Fullarton Road today. I didn't buy the following books. And I give my reasons why I didn't buy each on I didn't buy this 1975 disaster novel for a buck, written as it is by the guy who a couple of years later did the... Continue Reading →
The question was designed to be difficult, and the answers were in equal parts cautious and revealing. Rather than about recycling – the topic of a tightly run panel discussion put on at the King’s Head by Adelaide Sustainability Connect and the SA Young Professionals Group of Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) – the question was... Continue Reading →
This species. I mean, seriously. Anon, 1988. Greenhouse Switch. Australian Financial Review, 7 November, p.4 Australian governments should stop building coal-fired power stations as a start to combatting the greenhouse effect, conservation groups said yesterday. A group of 25 conservation, consumer and other community organisations said brown coal was the “dirtiest” of the fossil... Continue Reading →
So, there was this thing called the Australian Environment Council, made up of Federal and State ministers of the environment. It was set up in 1972 and had a long-ish run. And, as is the nature of these beasts, it produced Reports. And number 7, published in 1982, was on the public's willingness to pay... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago the folks at the Conversation asked me to bash out a piece on what Australians knew about climate change in the late 60s, early 70s. I did an okay-ish job, but have since radically expanded my knowledge of that period. What we have below is not the first mention of... Continue Reading →
'The Australian Energy Market Operator has just released a report on the future of the Australian energy market. Giles Parkinson over at reneweconomy.com.au has probably already got a 4000 word forensic demolition of it posted [sort of]. It is clearly going to be used by various shades of fossil fuel friends to say "only coal... Continue Reading →
another in the fun series "Marc clears his gmail while hunting down thesis additions" On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense 1873 Essay Translated from: Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn I Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems,... Continue Reading →
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